Not surprisingly, writing her just-released memoir Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life with co-author Greg Lawrence (Simon & Schuster) was not an easy task for the veteran star. "The hardest thing for me was to remember accurately the feelings I had at different times," she says. "Not only do memories change, but in order to move forward, we unconsciously change things in order to resolve them. But coming face-to-face with these old wounds is like scratching a sore that's disguised but still tender. I also wanted to communicate my story without telling the reader how to feel. When I read the book finally, I thought, 'Oh my God, how did I survive all that?' I talked to one woman recently who told me she's giving the book to her daughter, who is a dancer, and I have the feeling she thinks it's a cautionary tale. But that's all right."

McKechnie says that working with Lawrence on the book was invaluable. "He was great in making sure I had all the facts and dates straight; sometimes, I thought I did something one year and it turned out to be another. Now I know what I was doing every year of my life. I am someone who never looks back -- I'm always running ahead -- but now that I see the sequence, it's very interesting to see these patterns in my life and recall all my accomplishments." Unfortunately, despite the scrutiny of McKechnie and Lawrence, one typographical error made it into the book's initial printing: "When I describe this story from my childhood about my fantasy of my dad being an Indian chief -- which became Maggie's monologue in A Chorus Line -- it came out that I was the Indian chief, which makes no sense. It took me a day to get over that, but they are going to fix it."

It's hardly coincidental that the book is arriving at the same time that an eagerly anticipated revival of A Chorus Line -- directed by original co-creator Bob Avian, with Bennett's original choreographed restaged by McKechnie's close friend and original ACL co-star Baayork Lee -- hits Broadway. McKechnie will finally get to see the show on its official opening night, October 5 -- the producers have invited the original cast to attend -- and there will be a reunion dinner the previous evening. "It's a very classy thing for the producers to do," she says. "I am so excited for Baayork. She's the one who has kept the flame alive all these years, recreating Michael's choreography. I'm so proud of the show, but it can be hard to see it; there are all those ghost images lurking. But I think can be objective."

How does McKechnie feel about Charlotte d'Amboise taking on her role? "I'm excited for her. It's a great role for her, and I think she's ripe and ready for it. I spoke to her briefly, just when she was leaving Chicago, and I take it as a compliment that she called me. I told her that I would be there if she needed any information. In theater, this is what we do: We pass the torch. But I also think the most important thing is that Cassie has to become her. The choreography doesn't have to be exactly the same; Michael did it to my strengths. Things can be changed. I am not a purist."

So, does this mean that mean McKechnie doesn't object to the fact that the key of Cassie's big solo "The Music and the Mirror" has been transposed down for d'Amboise -- a development that has outraged some of the theater world's chatterati? "Oh, please," she says in exasperation, adding that she hadn't heard about the online discussion. "I should have had Marvin Hamlisch change the key back then. It was much too high. In my mind, I was trying to be a soprano. No matter who it was, it would bother me if someone sang in that key and it didn't suit her voice. Charlotte's voice is much lower than mine."

McKechnie will have little time to reflect on A Chorus Line or to bask in the success of her book. On October 7, she flies to London to begin rehearsals for a new production of Over Here, the 1974 Broadway musical that starred singing sisters Patty and Maxene Andrews (and a young star-to-be named John Travolta). McKechnie had originally agreed to play the title role in the Barrington Stage Company production of Mame around the same time, but this offer was too good to pass up: "I saw the show originally and I loved it. It's this wonderful spoof of a more innocent time in the 1940s, and I'm surprised it's never been revived. It will be so great to play Patty's part and have that big band onstage with me. I was a 'war baby,' so I always loved the music of the Andrews Sisters. In fact, 'You Could Drive a Person Crazy' from Company was a really a tribute to them."

The actress is no stranger to London; in fact, she considers the British capital her second home. "I feel quite honored being the only American in the cast, which is an affirmation that I have a career there," she says. "I first went over in 1969, when David Merrick sent me there with Promises, Promises, and I think I unknowingly set a precedent. Back then, it was very difficult for Americans to work in London. I just had dinner with Tony Roberts, and we had such a great time reminiscing; that was when he met his wife. I loved writing about that time in the book. As for Over Here, if it's a hit, I'll be there at least six months. And it would be a dream come true if I could bring it back to Broadway."